Young 7-Continents Marathoner Ran Some of Antarctic Race in Chile

Pennsylvania resident Nikolas Toocheck, who turned 10 on Wednesday, has received a lot of press, including here on Runner's World Newswire, for his quest to be the youngest runner to complete a marathon on all seven continents. Toocheck is doing his round-the-world quest to raise money for Operation Warm, a nonprofit organization founded by his grandfather that gives winter coats to needy children.

Last month, Toocheck traveled to Antarctica to run the White Continent Marathon, completion of which would allow him to cross his second continent off his list. (He ran his first marathon in December in Delaware.)

The race was scheduled for February 25, but as often happens with marathons in Antarctica, the weather, not the calendar, dictated events. Marathoning in Antarctica generally entails waiting for a long enough window of favorable weather so that runners can be transported onto the land, run a course consisting of several laps, and then ferried away. Late on February 26, Toocheck and the other White Continent runners got word they'd ship out early the next morning for the marathon.

As it turned out, the good weather on February 27 didn't hold for long enough. As one of the runners, Joseph Coureur, recounted on his blog, hours into the run the race director told runners returning to the start/finish area at the end of a lap that the race was off.

"The pilot wanted to leave," Coureur wrote. "The weather had been getting worse during the past hour. We had landed later than anticipated, started a little late instead of running directly off the plane, and there wasn’t enough of a margin to let us start another whole lap even though we could complete most of it. The race was over, at least for the Antarctica portion."

Of the 44 runners who started the marathon, 17 were able to complete the marathon on Antarctica. Coureur and Toocheck (and Toocheck's father, running with his son) were among those who didn't.

Everyone was flown back to Chile. Race organizers hastily measured a route, and about half an hour after landing, those who wanted to run the portion of the marathon they didn't run on Antarctica were timed and considered finishers of the White Continent Marathon. Toocheck completed 18 miles on Antarctica and another 8 on Chile, for a combined time of 6:20, his mother, Tara, told Runner's World Newswire.

In a press release about the White Continent marathon, the Toochecks write, "According to marathon rules, if weather forces an interruption in a race and it is completed in another location, it can be certified as completed in the original location. So, even though the run was divided, Nikolas is on record as completing an Antarctic marathon."

In case of interruption, a marathon shall be restarted at the first practical and safe opportunity to do so. If a marathon is interrupted and the race is forced to move to a different location, it may still count towards completion of the continent upon which it started if: (a) the distance completed for any runners affected by the interruption can be accurately computed, (b) the distance remaining can be accurately measured at the locale where the race is resumed; (c) the runners affected by the interruption complete the remaining distance at the first safe and practical opportunity. A marathon temporarily interrupted by a natural event, as described above, can be counted if at least 26 miles 385 yards combined is completed between the two venues once the race is resumed, and is allowed by the race director.

By this standard, Toocheck appears to meet the criteria for having run a marathon in Antarctica.

However, the club was formed after the White Continent Marathon by the marathon's race director. Another club, the Seven Continents Club, was formed in 1995, after Marathon Tours & Travel put on the first marathon on Antarctica. Thom Gilligan, the owner of Marathon Tours & Travel, disputes the new club's rule about what constitutes a completed Antarctic marathon.

"Running a marathon in Antarctica is risky business since there are many obstacles that no one can control that can prevent a participant from running 26.2 miles in Antarctica," Gilligan wrote in an email to Runner's World Newswire. "To overcome these obstacles makes accomplishing this goal all the more gratifying.

"To simply make up some outlandish rules to undermine the integrity of running a marathon on all seven continents is unacceptable and insulting to those finishers who came before them and inspired many others to follow in their footsteps," Gilligan concluded.

When asked whether her son has talked of returning to Antarctica to run 26.2 miles on the continent, Tara Toocheck says, "He's not going back before he's 18! After that he can do whatever he wants."

Toocheck says her son's next marathon will be determined not by weather, but his school schedule. "Maybe something in August in Mongolia or Australia," she says.

Scott DouglasScott is a veteran running, fitness, and health journalist who has held senior editorial positions at Runner’s World and Running Times.

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Runner's World participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.